MUNCHI : NAFFIE BACK/PA LO UNDER EP

It’s been 2 years since Munchi’s last release, the brilliant “Perreo 101” which we were privileged and honoured to unveil to the world. Prior to that release was the exceptional Rasterinha EP which ranks as one of my all time faves in the Munchi cannon alongside the legendary “Rotterdam Juke”.

The musical landscape has changed a lot over the past 2 years. A hell of a lot. As Victor has been correctly identifying via his amazing blog posts, standard Global Bass fare now sounds pretty old-fashioned and a product of a bygone era. Things are evolving and progressing. The Global Bass of new is trying to shed its tags and associations as being looked upon as a World Music/Global/Exotic genre and is placing itself alongside standard club music and wishing to be identified as just that, Club Music.

The innovators of this new evolution are mostly kids with their origins in the country from where they take their inspiration. Munchi is one of the First Generation of that ilk which is now being inhabited by the likes of Nazar, Happy Colors, DJ Haram, Bison, Nigga Fox, El Mahdy Jr, Non label, Naafi label and many others.

So where does Munchi fit into all of this. Well he is one of the innovators, one of the Godfathers I guess you could say. Were it nor for him, would we have come this far? Don’t forget he was doing stuff like SkullTrap and other weird, dark and aggressive mutations well before many. This filtered down to this new generation and his influence is undeniable. Even right now he occupies the classic position of an “innovator”, over-looked & barely talked about except by the ever faithful, almost forgotten. That’s what usually happens to innovators, true originators.

This is not the massive come-back, some of us might have been anticipating or wished for. The material could quite easily have come out in circa 2010-2011. The sound and technique hasn’t evolved that much beyond that circa. However, I think it’s totally unfair to have expected Munchi to meet those high expectations at this stage. Let’s not forget, Munchi has not been busy honing his skills, technique or musical growth, he’s been busy looking after himself and trying to manage his ill-health. So with that history in mind, all of this has to be put into some context.

This is just the start, we hope, Munchi is just warming himself up and that revolutionary come back, that new sound some of us are expecting from Munchi will arrive, be rest assured. For now, anything by Munchi is better than nothing by Munchi and I’m just so happy that he is taking little tentative steps to make music again. This must be encouraged and I pray it continues.

It’s not a MASSIVE COMEBACK but a SLIGHT RETURN and a most welcome return too. It would be unfair to expect Munchi to come back and blow our brains with something totally new and revolutionary like he has had a habit of doing in the past. This EP is what he says it is, it’s an EP going back to the roots.

Don’t get this twisted or wrong, this EP is fyah, total fyah and a cut above what everybody else is doing with this kind of stuff. Those damn drums, that tightness of production!!! It’s an education for many, a history lesson, you will learn something from this that will inform your own music making and that will add to your knowledge.

Munchi is just easing himself back into music making again, warming up to it in that inimitable Munchi way by causing total mayhem first before soon silencing us all with his wonder!

It’s back to the roots on this EP – Bubbling and Reggeton. Shoutout to the originators!

“Naffie Back”

After hearing “Tupac Back” a couple of years ago I knew exactly what to do; “Naffie Back”. This concept lingered in my mind for too long, so in March this year I finally made it happen. Instantly dropped a preview on Soundcloud too, because wtf happened to that Naffie drop?

There was a time that upon hearing the Naffie drop you knew – the club is about to be destroyed. Previously I made two VIP’s of my favorite classics in the form of “shoutouts”. These were literally to just be able to hear the Naffie drop in the clubs again. I recall hearing the “Blow Your Speakers” remix for the first time. This changed my life. I recall hearing the “Satisfaction” remix for the first time. I almost cried due to the amount of that my mind was being blown. So in making the 3rd shoutout of the series, the intent was to make a track that was going to be something like a ultimate shoutout that covered each aspect since this dude did so many genres. The mother of all shoutouts lol! Just the thought alone had me smiling.

So instead of rebranding it or watering it down into the 1.000.000th new genre, imma call it exactly what it is – Bubbling. More like Bubbling O.D. while you’re at it lol with references to the Bubbling dons Shaun D, Master D and De Schuurman. Hopefully they’ll all bless the world with new Bubbling tracks, cause nobody does it quite like them – SHOW THEM HOW ITS DONE.

“Pa Lo Under”

I used to listen to Reggeton’s Dembow rhythm on my walkman all day. Obsessively learning all I could about Reggeton. Fuck it’s crazy, back then all the producers were on the same old forum talking shit to eachother. I even hear the sounds I posted back then scattered in packs or even in productions over the years. This is for all the trademark sounds, all the homegrown labels, shitty VST’s that were only used for Reggeton, the limited sound palette you had to use over and over again, the creative ways to sing the most retarded lyrics and most of all the Reggeton singers that couldn’t sing for shit! YES, I LOVE IT.

Nothing is as fun as making a Reggeton track. So I present to you another one of those ultimate shoutouts lol. Covering all my favorite Reggeton producers in a Moombahton setting, stuffing it with an impossible amount of references to shout them out haha. You know who you are!

So salute to the Reggeton kings, while throwing on my FUBU clothes for one last time to keep on grinding in this sandungueo. HA!